Newly published research led by a University of Alberta team uncovers a potential new treatment target for multiple sclerosis.
The protective coating around nerves — called myelin — is lost in MS, which affects about 90,000 Canadians.
“There are currently no medications to improve remyelination, a major unmet need,” says Jason Plemel, principal investigator and Canada Research Chair in Glial Neuroimmunology.
The new research demonstrates how brain immune cells called microglia alter their behaviour to repair damaged myelin. Using advanced single-cell analysis in mice, the team mapped the different states microglia go through during normal remyelination.
In older animals, where repair is known to be impaired as it is in MS, microglial sequences broke down, were delayed or didn’t switch off properly, they found.
“This is the first map of the microglial states needed for successful remyelination,” says Plemel. “By defining these states, we now have clear therapeutic targets that can be used to guide new treatments.”
The work builds on Plemel’s earlier research to understand how microglia cause damage to the brain in diseases like MS and Alzheimer’s and how microglia respond to nerve damage caused by spinal cord injury or disease.